Hard kindness

The present

"I..." Zay swallowed hard as Jan finished talking. The Grandmaster looked at her and Zay slumped. "I do not know what to say."

Kyle had led the pair into a larger room, one that was clearly a classroom of sorts, if odd in any number of ways. It had teaching terminals set up at desks around the area, but no other classroom that Zay had ever seen had a sparring ring in the middle of it! There were also chairs, some sized for many different species, arrayed around the walls and Kyle had led them to those while he talked. The walls were the same biometal as the rest of the ship she had seen and Jan had been there along with Catherine. The two warriors had taken over for Kyle and the man had vanished as quickly as he had appeared. Shriv had wanted to stand but a cough from Jan had him sitting. Catherine sat on the floor next to Zay's seat and no one sane was going to argue with her.

"You can say anything you want, just try not to be rude." Jan reassured Zay. "I am not saying I am happy about this." The chair bound warrior said with a frown. "But it is what it is. Railing at life for being unfair is pointless. Life doesn't care."

"Doesn't stop a lot of people." Zay sounded far older than her years for a moment and Catherine patted her knee. "I… I am sorry?" She offered. Jan looked at her and Zay flushed. "Not for what happened, although I do feel sympathy. You have clearly adapted and are not to be taken lightly now." Both Catherine and Jan smiled at that. Zay smiled back but continued. "But… I do not know how I feel." She admitted. "Part of me feels revulsion." She admitted. Shriv looked horrified, but Jan just nodded.

"There are days when I wake up and scream at my body." The chair-bound Grandmaster reassured the distraught girl. "The fact that you know your feelings is head and shoulders above most. You do not consider me ugly or deformed, do you?"

"No! You are not ugly! Just different!" Zay snapped with a great deal of heat and then paled, but Jan just smiled again.

"Some do." Jan made a face. "Then again, wisdom is rarer than it should be. Foolishness is always easier and almost every sentient race I have met is lazy in some way."

"Well, some people are idiots." Shriv said without heat. "I have met people who called me ugly for not having hair like a human." Zay stared at him, aghast and the Duros shrugged. "I did not pay them much mind."

"Good. Don't." Jan heaved a sigh. "Well, Tavion says are as healed as we can make you, Zay. How do you feel?"

"I feel so much better, I have no words." Zay replied, still clearly upset, but moving beyond it. "All I can really say is this: Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you." She bowed in her seat to Jan who smiled at her.

"Tavion is very good at what she does." Jan replied and then she grimaced. "Her bedside manner takes some getting used to." Zay nodded fervently and Jan's frown eased. "That said? She delivered you, so she feels a bit indebted to your mother. We all do." The Grandmaster looked away. "We failed Iden. We could not help her as we should have and it cost her and Del their lives. I am truly sorry, Zay."

"She would not blame you." Zay said softly. "She said something in the message that I do not understand. Something that she said was for the Bladeborn." Jan and Catherine shared a look, but remained silent. Shriv jerked but Zay shook her head. "She told me to keep that part to myself, Shriv. I wanted to tell you, but she ordered me not to."

"I… see. Should I leave?" Shriv didn't want to, his love for Zay was clear. But the warrior also understood all too well about having too much information. Such could kill just as easily as having too little.

"No." Jan assured him. "You are Zay's next of kin and she will need you when she meets her brother and sister. They tug at the heartstrings of all of us."

"That bad?" Zay asked in a tiny voice. Jan nodded and Catherine bowed her head. "I see."

"They are good kids, Zay." Jan's tone hardened. "But that is all they are. All they will ever be. Jade has so much to answer for. What she did to me was bad enough. What she did to Iden..." The Grandmaster actually looked away as she trailed off. She chose her words with care when she spoke gain. "I will say that she was never rough with Iden or with me. She wanted my DNA as well as information that I had. I could not stop her taking my reproduction organs. I could stop her from ripping information out of my mind."

"She what?" Shriv and Zay both chorused, appalled.

"She didn't want me dead." Jan said softly. "She wanted my DNA but also the information on the Bladeborn."

"May I approach?" Zay asked and Jan nodded. Zay rose from her seat to stride to the wheelchair. The young woman knelt and held out her hand to Jan's face. Jan smiled and nodded again. Zay laid her palm on Jan's cheek, a gentle caress on the only part of the woman's body that would feel it. Her eyes glistened but she was not crying. When she spoke, it was not in Basic. The words made no sense to Shriv or clearly to Zay, but both Jan and Catherine stilled as Zay bowed her head. "Mom did not say what that means. She wanted me to memorize them, so I did."

"And then Jade attacked you." Jan's face was a terrible thing. "Catherine! I want to hold her and I can't."

"I can." Catherine rose and stepped to where Zay stood. She enfolded the girl in her arms and bowed her head. "What you just said is in ancient Tythonese, Zay. No one today outside the Bladeborn will have any idea what that means. We are a bit stubborn about holding onto traditions."

"You don't say!" Zay kept her hand against Jan's cheek as the Grandmaster clearly struggled with herself. "What does it mean?"

"It is three phrases. One means 'Sister of pain'." Catherine said softly. "The second? 'Hope through horror' and the last is..." She swallowed. "'The debt will be paid'."

"'Sister'?" Zay nodded slowly and then smiled. "That makes you my aunt." Both Bladeborn stared at her as Zay moved her hand, stroking Jan's cheek. "Whatever I have to do, whatever I can do, Shriv is my family, but so are you!" Shriv sighed and spoke under his breath something about 'here we go'.

"It doesn't work like that, Zay." Jan said weakly but Zay was having none of it.

"I don't care!" Zay snapped, her hand still gently caressing the Grandmaster's cheek as Jan seemed to be fighting not to cry.

"Zay, you do not understand and you will not." Catherine did not try to pull her away from Jan who seemed at a loss for words. "We are not going to involve you in our messes. You needed help, we gave it."

"And I thank you for that." Zay nodded to Catherine but her focus was on Jan. "But I can help Jan and I will." Steel would have shattered under her tone and Shriv just shook his head, remaining quiet.

"Zay. We have tried everything." Jan was in control again but her eyes still glistened. "So many things, all failed. Kyle and I went to Jade, because she had access to the best Imperial tech. We didn't say who I was or what but she guessed, drugged me and spirited me away before Kyle could react. He did not take that well."

"There is another way." Zay said firmly enough that everyone stared at her. Shriv spoke up before anyone else could.

"Zay, I know you are hurting. I am too. But they had to have tried everything." The Duros looked at Jan who nodded.

"Mechanical replacement, drug therapy, gene therapy, many different traditions of healing, some Force based, others so different as to be unthinkable. I tried them all." Jan admitted. "There is too much gone, too much vaporized by Kyle's lightsaber. A centimeter higher and it would have melted through my lower brain and killed me instantly. That I can move my head at all is a result of years of therapy and the Force. The damage is irreparable. I can use the Force to talk and move about in various ways, but I am stuck in this chair for the rest of my life."

"No, you are not." Zay said firmly and Jan stared at her. Zay was looking at her, but the younger woman's eyes were far away. "Mom was seriously sneaky." She shook her head as Jan eyed her. Zay turned to Shriv. "You remember my favorite story as a child? The one with the cave?"

"How can I forget?" Shriv asked a bit plaintively. "You had to be told parts of that story every night!" Both of the Bladeborn stared at him as Zay smirked. "Zay!"

"I loved that story, Shriv." Zay said very quietly. "I loved anything that dealt with my hero, Leia Organa." She gave a sob and Catherine gave her a squeeze. "I was just a little kid. I didn't understand anything about what was really going on except that she was a princess and a hero and all." She sighed. "I did a lot of research, Shriv. You know that."

"Zay!" Shriv protested. "It was a child's story!"

"Shriv." Zay corrected him grimly. "It happened." The Duros went totally still as Zay nodded "When I was in school, I had access to a lot more files than I had as a kid. I found some information in odd places. I took it to Mom and she…. Well… She did not react as I expected. Mom made me swear never to speak of it. She said some things were far too dangerous to ever see the light of day."

"That is far too true. If she made you swear, Zay..." Jan stared, but broke off as Zay turned a huge smile to her. "What?"

"She made me swear and I quote 'I understand the costs and will only divulge this to family if one needs help beyond anything else available.'" Zay said softly. "You and Shriv are family and you need help."

"Zay!" Shriv sighed. "Whatever you may have found, that planet does not exist!"

"It does." Zay retorted and Shriv stared at her. "It is not in any star charts for darn good reason. What is hidden there is far too powerful. The Bladeborn can guard it. I can't. It healed him and her! Hell, it healed Vader!"

"No." Catherine swallowed hard and Zay spun to stare at her. Was the Bladeborn warrior scared? Her face smoothed. "Zay! Tell me true! Is it the splinter?"

"That is what I think." Zay was confused, but firm. "It can help Jan."

"Catherine, what 'splinter'?" Jan asked when Catherine did not speak. The woman holding Zay hugged her tighter but Zay did not move. "Catherine?"

"I… I can't." Catherine all but cried that. "I want to help, Jan and I can't!" Jan stared at her and comprehension dawned.

"Oh. This bears on your past. Doesn't it? No one here is cleared for that but me." Jan said slowly and Catherine nodded, her head moving in savage fashion. "Be calm, Catherine. We can figure this out without cheating."

"I want to help." Catherine all but pleaded and Zay wrapped her arms around the armored woman Catherine started to cry. What could make this hard and tough warrior woman cry?

"You can, Masterblade." Jan reassured the crying woman. "But for right now? Zay, what 'splinter'?"

That was a command and Zay nodded to the Grandmaster of the Bladeborn.

"The Splinter of the Mind's Eye."


Later

The conference room was not large and it was packed. Catherine, Karl and Jaden stood beside Zay and Shriv. Brown armored forms surrounded them. Thirty Bladeborn stood every which way, some human, others common and not to common aliens. All were intent as Jan spoke to a hologram of Desann. Kyle stood beside her, but had remained silent throughout.

"...and we need to make sure the planet remains secure." The chair-bound Grandmaster said firmly. "Whatever my own desires, the Order has duties and obligations that must be met. Sulon will not fall. Captain Eclipse?" She turned and another hologram of an older woman in a brown uniform that looked almost Imperial but not quite nodded to her. "Any sign of additional First Order?"

"No, Grandmaster Orrs." The woman shook her head. "I am patrolling the outskirts." She smiled coldly. "Masterblade Catherine made a hell of an impression." More than one Bladeborn smiled just as coldly as she did. "Maybe they got the hint."

"Maybe." Jan allowed. "But we cannot get complacent. Not now. No matter what, I am working to get at least two squadrons worth of fighters and a squadron of bombers here." The other woman looked interested and Jan nodded. "It is bit convoluted, but I can get some older designs upgraded to the best new tech. Sulon does not have the infrastructure to support more than that and three squadrons is pushing both that and their militia personnel even if we can provide pilots."

"If I stay here, you will only need one fighter and one bomber squadron." Captain Eclipse said quietly. Jan looked at her and the old woman sighed. "I… I hoped. But there is nothing. He is gone."

"We do not know that." Jan said sternly. "We will not stop looking for him, Juno."

"I know, Grandmaster, but it is a big galaxy and he has had lots of time to disappear." Captain Eclipse slumped. "If he wanted to be found, he would have been by now. I can hope he is alive, but… After what the Republic did to him, I don't blame him for not coming back." Hate that matched any Sith Lord's sang in her tone. Then again, if half of what Zay had heard about her was true, one-time Imperial Captain Juno Eclipse had once served Darth Vader! Add what Zay had heard in passing? The woman had serious cause to hate the New Republic.

"Nor do we." Jan reassured her. "If we find him or any trace, you will be the first to know. We are not his enemies. Hopefully, he knows that if we meet again."

"Hopefully." The woman saluted the Grandmaster who nodded. "I will remain here. The Rogue Shadow needs some maintenance and I need some downtime."

"Good." Jan smiled wide. "Then maybe Tavion will stop yelling at me." A chuckle swept the room as Tavion huffed from the side. The healer was smiling though.

"Unlikely." The Captain smiled and her hologram vanished.

Jan turned back to the saurian hologram. Desann had been smiling at the byplay but now, he sobered. "What do you need, Desann?"

"We have most of what we need already on planet." Desann said slowly. "You will need a recon specialist."

"Frankly, I do not know what we are going to need." Jan admitted, looking at Kyle who looked thoughtful. "I do not know anything about this world that Zay describes."

"It isn't Circarpous IV." Kyle said with a frown. "I have been to that world. It is nothing like the story describes." Zay frowned, but Kyle waved at her. "That is not surprising. Say what you will about Skywalker, his sister knew about keeping secrets. The fewer people who knew anything about it, the better. Most of the people who might have known anything about a diplomatic Rebellion mission at that time would have been on Hoth." Zay looked at Shriv who might have been a statue. "You don't know." It was not a question but Shriv shook his head anyway.

"I tried to forget everything about that frozen hell for so long. Tried to forgive myself for not being there, fighting beside them." Shriv said softly as Zay laid her hand on his arm. "For so long, I just wanted to move on. Now I gotta remember. I… I don't think I ever heard anything." The Duros said softly. "I focused on my job."

"No one here is blaming you for wanting to forget such a horror." Kyle reassured him. "That leaves only two beings who might know anything about the planet however." Zay stared at him and Kyle nodded. "R2-D2 and C-3PO."

"They were there in the story and from what I understand, they were partnered with Luke and Leia at the time." Zay mused and then frowned. "R2-D2 went with Rey to find Skywalker and C-3PO was with Organa." She slumped. "I… How do we walk up and ask such a thing?"

"Very carefully." Kyle warned. "The Republic ignored us for the most part. 'Out of sight, out of mind' and all of that. Skywalker was rather steamed about the Valley, but I was not about to let anyone try that again. Jedi or no."

"What did you do?" Zay asked as Shriv groaned. Kyle smiled a cold hard smile and Zay shuddered. "Do I want to know?"

"He blew it up." Shriv said in a monotone as every Bladeborn nodded.

"How do you blow up a valley?" Zay asked, confused.

"Jerec had deployed a lot of troops. Almost a regiment's worth. They had lots of demo and I used it all. Buried the entire place under several million tons of more rock. " Kyle shrugged as Shriv put a hand to his face. "Hey, it is not my fault. Skywalker ignored my warning. He had to land there. It wasn't my fault a rock landed on his X-Wing."

"Four statues landed on his X-Wing." Jan corrected as Zay groaned. the chair-bound Bladeborn was smiling, but she was also shaking her head. "Don't even try telling me that wasn't intentional. You broke his ship so he couldn't chase us."

"And if I did?" Kyle inquired, his face artfully innocent. "I thought Jedi were not supposed to get that angry."

"You are bad, Kyle Katarn." Jan heaved a sigh. "All that aside, if there is a splinter of the Kaiburr Crystal intact, then all kinds of people will be seeking such now. Jade alone could do insane amounts of damage with such a thing. Let alone that fool Kylo Ren."

"I always thought Kyber crystals were what Jedi and Sith used in their lightsabers." Shriv mused. Jan nodded. "Different thing?"

"The Death Star also used Kyber crystals to focus its beams." Jan explained. "The Kaiburr is different. More. From some accounts, it is alive."

"Ouch." Shriv swallowed hard. "Um… And this could help you?"

"Maybe." Jan allowed. "I-" She broke off as an alarm sounded. "Report!" She snapped at thin air.

"Grandmaster!" A voice Zay did not know spoke up from a wall com, worry mixed with anticipation. "Hyperspace traces! Several of them."

"First Order?" Jan demanded as the Bladeborn started to run from the room.

"Negative." The other paused and then spoke again, clipped and professional. "They just identified themselves. It is a Republic Fleet under the command of..." He gulped. "...Admiral Keyan Farlander." He paused and spoke again. "They are demanding our surrender."

Zay and Shriv stared at the Grandmaster as her face blanked.

"Is that so? Jacen? Transmit this back, verbatim. 'Republic forces, retreat or die. This world is protected by the Bladeborn'." Jan's growl silenced everything. "'You lying sacks of osik can go to hell and if there is any justice in the universe, I will send you there personally, Admiral!' Cut coms. All hands to Battle Stations."

"What did he do to you?" Zay begged as Catherine started leading her from the room and more alarms started blaring. Shriv looked at the floor and when he spoke, it was soft, sad.

"Admiral Keyan Farlander didn't kill the man named Starkiller."


For those who may not know, The Splinter of the Mind's Eye by Alan Dean Foster was the second Star Wars novel, published in 1978 following the novelization of Star Wars by the same author. It was intended as a backup in case Star Wars flopped as many people thought it would. It was also intended as a precursor to a potential sequel. That sequel was never made and we got Empire Strikes Back. (We shall never mention the awfulness that has 'Holiday' in its name) The movie and later franchise obviously did not flop and the book was mostly forgotten, except by diehard fans, such as myself. It is out of print and hard to come by. I have a very badly worn copy and it is going NOWHERE.